Rally to bring King’s dream to Sylva

The Moral Monday protests that started in Raleigh and made national headlines are now making the rounds in North Carolina with a stop scheduled in Sylva next Wednesday, Aug. 28.

Called the “Bringing the Dream Home to Sylva” rally, the event will be one of 13 held simultaneously in each of the state’s congressional districts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech. The rally will focus on a number of decisions that came out of Raleigh this year but will place a particular emphasis on the recently passed voting law, which will require residents to show identification prior to voting.

Speakers at a press conference announcing the Sylva rally called the voting bill regressive.

“We feel like we are going back to the pre-50s, pre-60s age,” said Frank Wilson, head of the Henderson County chapter of the NAACP.

The rally will kick off at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 28, in Bridge Park and is sponsored by The Canary Coalition, OccupyWNC, the NAACP and others. All are welcome. Organizers will be registering people to vote and handing out information about how the new voting law will affect them. Speakers will address the crowd throughout the 90-minute rally.

“We are expecting a large turnout,” said Avram Friedman, head of The Canary Coalition, a regional clean air advocacy group based in Sylva.